The inverted siphon is an old technology dating back to the days of the Romans based on the simple fact that water always seeks its own level, and for the thing to work all one has to do is have one end where the water runs out to be lower then the end where water runs in. This was the sort of device they chose to cross the Hudson.

The first problem facing the engineers was to find out the depth of the sediments at the bottom of the river. The first method they tried was to drill a series of holes using a diamond drill mounted on a barge. This was slow and time-consuming work that created all sorts of problems with ships going up and down the Hudson River. They abandoned this approach when they discovered it wasn't practical. The next method they tried was drilling holes from the opposite shores that were 1400 feet deep. The two drill holes stayed in solid rock, so the engineers tried raising the depth at which the drills still remained in solid rock. From this work it was determined that the inverted siphon would have to cross the river at 1100 feet below its surface, or one-fifth of a mile deep. The contract for the work was rewarded to the T.A. Gillespie Company who already had bids from the city and state worth millions. They were not the lowest bidder with a bid $210,000 higher then the lowest bidder. This later became the subject of a special grand jury investigation. The Hudson River siphon job was also known as contract Number 80. The investigation centered on the alleged graft charges relative to the contract for the job of constructing the Hudson River Siphon. This was not unheard of in either city or state cases of alleged bid-rigging.

The Hudson River siphon was built in the early 20th century as the world's largest inverted siphon. This amazing structure was built to a depth of 1100 feet below the surface of the river. The bore was 13 feet in diameter that was lined with concrete. Once this monster was filled with water and no one has entered it for over a century.

The Hudson River siphon is part of an even larger construction project called the Catskill aqueduct where construction began in 1906 and was finally concluded in 1924. The whole system is operated by gravity; water flows throughout the system at a rate of about 4 feet per second, or about 550 million gallons per day to the north of Kensico Reservoir in Valhalla, New York. The aqueduct system works well below its capacity and the daily averages of water delivered amounts to about 350 - 400 million gallons per day. It is estimated that about 40% of the total water supply for New York City comes from the Catskill aqueduct. The rest is from two other reservoir systems in the Catskills, and other reservoirs east of the Hudson River.

New Jersey Halts Work On Tunnels To Midtown

New Jersey officials have abruptly halted new work on an ambitious $8.7 billion plan to build two new commuter rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River, raising concerns about the fate of a project that had been hailed as a potential savior for the region’s overcrowded mass transit system.

The project, one of the biggest public works endeavors in the country, broke ground last summer and was expected to be finished in 2018. Billions of dollars have already been committed to building the tunnels, which, once completed, would nearly double the capacity for train travel between New Jersey and Midtown Manhattan. A new underground station near Macy’s on 34th Street is also planned.

But in a highly unusual move, officials at New Jersey Transit, the project’s overseer, said over the weekend that they had placed a 30-day moratorium on all new work and contract bids until they could determine if the project’s cost would be covered by its budget. The review, reported in The Star-Ledger of Newark, was prompted by months of talks with federal officials concerned about cost overruns.

“The governor has made it clear to me that this project must stay on time and on budget,” James Weinstein, the executive director of New Jersey Transit, wrote in a statement. “Anything short of that is unacceptable. During the next 30 days we will work to meet that directive.”

Advocates for the project expressed alarm on Sunday about the decision, and some openly wondered whether it could signal a lack of support from Gov. Chris Christie, who inherited the project from his predecessor, Jon S. Corzine.

A spokesman for New Jersey Transit, Paul Wyckoff, said the monthlong hiatus would “not affect completion date of the project.” Asked whether the state could eventually reconsider the tunnels entirely, Mr. Wyckoff replied: “That’s speculative right now. First we want to see what the numbers show us.”

Representatives of the governor’s office did not reply to phone calls. Mr. Christie has been criticized this year for approving steep cuts to his state’s mass transit budget.

The project is intended to relieve the burden on the century-old tunnels that act as a bottleneck for trains traveling in and out of Midtown. Officials at New Jersey Transit have said that the tunnels would eliminate many delays and ease overcrowding on trains.

Jeffrey M. Zupan, a fellow at the Regional Plan Association, said he was concerned that state officials might use the budget review as an excuse to delay the project indefinitely. “My fear is New Jersey will say, ‘Oh, it costs just too much,’ and delay it further,” he said. “That would be awful.”

September 08, 2010

What Swims Beneath the Pier – and What Doesn’t

New Yorkers love their piers; for fish, it depends

Ken Able, professor of marine science

Several times over the last four summers, Rutgers marine scientists have combined high and low technology to answer a straightforward scientific question: How do the fish in a big urban estuary react to big piers built by their human neighbors?

Since the early 1990s, Ken Able, a fish biologist and professor of marine science in Rutgers’Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences (IMCS), has studied this question in the HudsonRiverestuary. Most recently, he and his colleague Thomas Grothues, an associate research professor, have focused their attention on the piers jutting into the river from the west side of Manhattan.

They’ve concluded that fish that hunt by sight – striped bass, for instance – like pilings and beams, but don’t like what Able calls “intense shading” caused by large piers. Fish that don’t depend on sight but use other senses to find food – eels, or tomcod – find the water under piers more congenial. Their findings will be put into reports for the HudsonRiver Foundation and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which paid for their most recent work.

Able has been studying the behavior of fish around piers and the deckless pilings where piers once stood on both sides of theHudson for nearly two decades. He’s used low-tech tools – nets, boats, and kayaks – to understand how fish interact with piers. They’ve also used high technology – most recently, dual-frequency identification sonar, or DIDSON. As its name implies, this sonar uses two frequencies instead of one, and so produces more acoustic information, which makes for more detailed images.

Able’s researchers load a small boat with a kayak, the DIDSON, batteries, and a laptop computer in Jersey City. They motor to Pier 40 in Manhattan, at the end of Houston Street – a great, square structure, now home to soccer fields and little league diamonds, among other facilities.

Once at Pier 40, the team attaches the DIDSON device to the kayak’s hull and a battery pack in the kayak’s stern. A researcher sits amidships, holding the paddle and facing a laptop computer attached to the DIDSON. He or she paddles under the pier, between the pilings, as far as possible (cross beams prevent the researcher from paddling all the way), recording acoustic images, and then turns and comes back to open water. The process is repeated until six representative sections at different depths have been covered.

Though they’ve been under dozens of piers over the years, the estuary still holds surprises. Able said that he and Grothues were amazed at the variety and abundance of fish in what many people assume is a polluted system.

“Well it is polluted, but it’s recovering,” Able said. “We see blues, menhaden, and lots of prey species. And we see striped bass, big and little ones – and when I say big, I mean three-footers.”

Stimulus gives rise to Walkway elevator

Pedestrians enjoy the Walkway Over the Hudson last Oct. 3, the day it opened to the public. Freeman file photo

POUGHKEEPSIE —More stimulus money has reached the Hudson Valley in the form of a $2.4 million package that will provide an elevator and stairs on the east end of the Walkway Over the Hudson.

The elevator and stairs will rise 212 feet to reach the surface of the old railroad bridge that closed after a fire in 1974 and reopened as a state park for pedestrians last October.

Some 50 people came to a recent meeting, presented by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which manages the walkway. Planners had considered the elevator when the bridge was converted into a pedestrian way, but they lacked funding.

In its first 10 months, the 1.28-mile walkway has drawn more than 660,000 visitors, according to Sally Mazzarella, chairwoman of the walkway board. She said the walkway, which cost $38.8 million to create, has provided many economic benefits to the region.

“Tourism plays a major role in the economy of this region, the Hudson Valley, and certainly the city of Poughkeepsie,” she said. “The elevator is a major component and a centerpiece of the economic opportunities.”

Project Manager C. Michael Cooper of Bergmann Associates in Albany said construction of the elevator and stairs will begin next spring and be completed by the spring of 2012. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, under which stimulus money is distributed, requires a quick turnaround.

Cooper said the glass and aluminum elevator will provide fine views of the river. It will accommodate 25 passengers and make the round trip in five minutes. The tower supporting the elevator will be designed to accommodate two additional elevators.

Cooper said the project will provide further economic benefits, connecting waterfront trails, the Poughkeepsie train station, the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum, restaurants and other businesses.

August 31, 2010

As a Park Runs Above, Deals Stir Below

ALISON GREGOR

Richard Perry/The New York Times

A fence marks the current end of High Line Park, which will eventually be extended north to 34th Street.

When construction loans grew scarce two years ago, property development along Manhattan’sHigh Line, which had been fast and fierce, stumbled. One prominent project that still seemed to be moving along was a new branch of theWhitney Museum of American Artat the southern tip of the elevated park.

While planning for that six-story museum at Washington and Gansevoort Streets is well under way, there are also signs that other development is picking up in this real estate submarket viewed as robust relative to some other Manhattan neighborhoods.

The first part of the High Line, a landscaped city park created on abandoned elevated rail tracks that eventually is to stretch from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street, opened in June 2009, running north from Gansevoort to 20th Street. The second of three segments is expected to open in spring of 2011 and extend the High Line to 30th Street.

Now, among the dozens of projects planned along the length of the High Line, some have changed hands and a few were sold by banks after developers defaulted, but most are still on track for development. Some developers are waiting for construction loans to become available, and other longtime property owners are just waiting for the right moment to move forward, but all agree that a submarket has been created, the strength of which could not have been envisioned just five years ago.

Real estate owners along the first High Line segment, a large chunk of which spans the meatpacking district, said they were already starting to feel the park’s positive effects on real estate values.

“For those who thought that area was a flash in the pan, something that already happened, they’re going to be pleasantly surprised with the next dimensions of the change in that neighborhood,” said Joseph J. Sitt, the chief executive of Thor Equities, a real estate development company that owns 446 West 14th Street, which connects directly to the High Line.

Mr. Sitt said Thor was rebuilding 446 West 14th Street and would install a women’s clothing boutique, called Kritzia, by the fall, as well as a restaurant and a club lounge with a possible rooftop space by the spring of 2011.

Hampshire Real Estate Companies of Morristown, N.J., has owned a warehouse at 259 10th Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets for many years. The company is prepared to overhaul the interior of the hulking structure, which was designed by the architect Cass Gilbert, but is waiting for the right tenant.

Other longtime property owners were poised to develop when the recession hit. Edison Properties of Newark had planned two towers with 869 condominium apartments on a block west of the High Line between 17th and 18th Streets. The land is still a parking lot.

Now, Edison executives are biding their time as they prepare to clean up the soil on the property, which they have owned more than 20 years. Edison will also assist the city in creating a public park east of the High Line to 10th Avenue between 17th and 18th Streets, “like the Spanish Steps” in Rome, said Ken Miller, an Edison executive vice president.

Developers who have owned their properties for less time, perhaps even those that bought at the top of the boom, may not have the luxury of waiting out the market. Citibank has been trying to sell a slightly cantilevered shiny metal-skinned condominium building at 245 10th Avenue and 25th Street, said Erik Ekstein, the owner of Ekstein Development, who said he was asked if he wanted to take over the project. He declined.

Mr. Ekstein is developing a 91-unit condominium building at 540 West 28th Street and a 30-unit rental building at 537 West 27th Street, midway between the High Line and 11th Avenue, along with L&M Development Partners, a firm based in Westchester County that typically develops low- and moderate-priced housing.

The projects will not be built as affordable housing, because two years ago, L&M couldn’t buy enough development rights from landowners immediately beneath the High Line to make moderate-priced units feasible, said Ron Moelis, a principal with L&M.

“People were valuing those development rights so high, they priced themselves out of the market,” Mr. Moelis said. Since the economic downturn, “there are maybe some people who need some money or liquidity, so more development rights have come on the market the past year or so,” a boon to property developers.

Some developers have been able to exploit distressed situations. Equity Residential of Chicago announced at an earnings meeting earlier this year that it was leasing a parcel at 23rd Street and 10th Avenue, where the previous developer had poured a foundation before running into financial trouble. Equity plans to build 111 apartments and 9,400 square feet of retail space, and construction has already started.

Another parcel at 500 West 21st Street and 10th Avenue changed hands in May after its owners group, including the developers Charles Blaichman and André Balazs, defaulted on the loan.

Sherwood Equities, a real estate development and investment firm based in New York, picked up the property, which has a 19,000-square-foot garage on it, for a fraction of the $50 million the original owners paid in 2007, said Ryan Nelson, a Sherwood senior vice president.

In July, Sherwood leased the site to a garage operator. Later, when construction financing and loans for homebuyers become easier to obtain, the development company could build 100,000 square feet of residential, hotel, office or retail space, said Jeffrey Katz, Sherwood’s chief executive.

“Right now, there’s still difficulties to developing in New York,” he said. “The market’s not exactly robust.”

A hotel planned for 511 West 21st Street, abutting the High Line, with backers who included Mr. Blaichman and the rap musician Jay-Z, has been reported to be another casualty of the economic downtown.

Another property on the market is 508 West 20th Street, which abuts the High Line on the west side. No buyer has yet stepped up to pay the $9 million asking price for the 3,800-square-foot lot, a broker at Zohar Properties said.

At the height of the market, the price of properties next to the High Line may have soared as high as $400 a buildable square foot, but current prices are roughly $200 a buildable square foot, said Paul Pariser, a co-chief executive of a commercial property owner,Taconic Investment Partners, based in New York.

In 2008, Taconic, along with the Related Companies, one of the city’s most prolific developers, opened the first condominium building with access to the High Line. Now, Taconic has almost completed 15 Little West 12th Street, an 80,000-square-foot office building with retail space east of the High Line.

Taconic is also poised to develop another office building at 837 Washington Street at 13th Street, also east of the High Line.

“The High Line has been a very positive influence to push activities to Washington, which was sort of a back street, but now it’s become very prime,” Mr. Pariser said.

Mr. Pariser said a new office building, the High Line Building at 450 West 14th Street, which is still being completed, has been quickly attracting tenants.

A gas station at the corner of 10th Avenue and 14th Street, abutting the High Line, is available for lease, said Karen Bellantoni, an executive vice president with Robert K. Futterman & Associates, a retail real estate brokerage firm.

She said that future development along the High Line north of 18th Street would be mostly residential.

“My understanding is that there are a few things in play, but right now, everyone’s sort of waiting to see,” Ms. Bellantoni said.

The Related Companies — which also won the contract to develop the Hudson Yards area — has, as yet, no timeline for development of lots it has assembled both east and west of the High Line from 29th to 30th Streets, which eventually could become residential, hotel, office, retail or a mix of the four, said Bruce Beal Jr., an executive vice president with Related.

“The development of the High Line so far has created a very strong submarket,” Mr. Beal said.

Finish a Tribeca Stretch of Hudson River Park

“The turf is down, the flags are up, so it’s starting to feel like Pier 25 is close,” Noreen Doyle, a vice president of the Hudson River Park Trust, reported recently to the agency’s advisory council.

Just how close the Tribeca pier is to opening, with its 18-hole minigolf course, playground, volleyball court, snack bar and artificial lawn, is yet to be seen. But the hope is that the pier and the landscaped promenade south of it—basketball court, skate park and all—will be ready next month.

“Everybody is working towards that goal,” Doyle said, “but there is a reason why we’re not going to say it’s going to be open on a particular day.”

Among the work to be completed is the laying of 59,000 square feet of paving stones atop an asphalt base. The installation is weather-sensitive, so they have to be in place before the cold sets in. Rain also can delay the installation.

“We are cramming to get the pavers installed,” Doyle said. “It’s all hands on deck.”

In the meantime, the Trust has $6 million from the state and city to construct the boathouse and restaurant that are planned for Pier 26 next door. The Trust expects to award the contract for construction this fall, but doesn’t know how much, if any, will be left over to complete the landscaped promenade, from Laight Street to North Moore, until the bids come in. A planned dog run is among the features on hold.

“It was never automatic that we would have money to complete the Tribeca upland area,” Doyle said. “We had hoped to be able to do all of that before the budget crisis became so apparent; we will do as much as we can.”

The operator of the Pier 25 facilties will be chosen this month and, once the park segment opens, pier activities will continue to operate as long as weather permits, Doyle said. Manhattan Youth had operated the concessions on the former Pier 25, which closed in 2005, and the organization is among those now in the running.

August 30, 2010

Every crisis needs a single person so determined, knowledgeable and personable that he or she carries the day. Such a person is Alexander Saunders of Garrison, New York, in regard to his passion, a tunnel under the Hudson River, his alternative to the recent proposal by the New York Thruway Authority to rebuild the Tappan Zee Bridge.

"Sandy," as he is called by everyone who speaks to him for five minutes, is articulate in answering any question regarding tunnels both in the United States and abroad. His enthusiasm for the conservation of natural resources in the Hudson Valley began with the formation of Scenic Hudson as well as the Clearwater. Sandy and Sandy's father and mother were part of the original group that created both organizations.

Most great thinkers and leaders, when dedicated to a subject, can answer any question thrown at them, no matter how mundane or technical it may be. In Sandy's case his passion for tunnels and what they can do in saving the environment have led him deep into the bowls of the earth beneath Queens to the Queens Water Tunnel project, to Switzerland and the many tunnels that crisscross that country, and to Norway and its tunnels, which have uniquely decorative interiors.

Most of the tunnels in both the United States and other parts of the world built in the recent past, including the Churnnel that connects England and Europe, were built using a very successful and proven technology. Basically the technology consists of a huge rotary cutter that pushes forward on powerful hydraulic shoes. The cut-away material is passed through the machine to a conveyor or railcars and then carried out of the tunnel.

The secret to Sandy's proposal for the Tappan Tunnel rests in using the thousands of tons of gravel dug out in the cutting of the tunnel to make the concrete needed for the three 50' diameter tubes that would make up the final corridors beneath the Hudson River. In Sandy's vision, the tunnels would begin well back beyond the immediate shoreline both on the east and west sides of the Hudson River and continue across Westchester and Long Island Sound, with up ramps accessing major intersecting roads including the Long Island Expressway, New England Thruway and the Deegan Expressway. Further, in Sandy's calculations, there would be enough material left over for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, The Department of Transportation Authority, as well as the Thruway itself to use in their many other projects. When asked, "Where you take all this material as it is removed in the development of the Tappan Tunnel, his straight forward answer is, "the tracks leading out of the tunnel would go straight to one of the empty quarrys located on the West side of the Hudson beyond the Palisades. There the material would be processed and could be transported by rail where needed."

The second secret to Sandy's proposal is that fact that a railroad would be included in the bottom half of the finished Tappan Tunnel. So there would be 3 auto lanes in the upper half of the 50 foot diameter tunnel, and commuter trains in the lower part. The combination of the two modes of transportation would provide a unique all-weather method of travel both east and west. In addition the railroad would involve federal funding which would further help the New York Thruway Authority in financing the project.

During my hour long conversation with Sandy I asked, what would become of the existing Tappan Zee Bridge? He excitedly, "Simple, the bridge would be taken down, and the shoreline restored and returned to the communities to be used for environmentally sound projects that would enhance the beautiful Hudson River!"

Sandy's enthusiasm for the project has led him to meet with the John R. Platt, the chairman of the New York State Thruway Authority and to bring his proposal for a RFP for a Feasibility Report on the proposed "Tappan Tunnel" to the attention of Governor Pataki. Believe it or not, in all the discussions of the transportation needs between the east and west shores of the Hudson River, there has not been any serious investigation of the possibility of a tunnel instead of a bridge. The following is the word for word letter from Sandy to both entities in regard to this subject:

Alexander SaundersSaunders FarmGarrison, NY 10524

FINAL REPORT ON TZB

The Final Report for Long Term Needs Assessment and Alternative Analysis I-287/Tappan Zee Bridge Corridor is seriously deficient in its attempt to address the long term problems presented by the congestion and physical deterioration of the Tappan Zee Bridge. It mentions in Section 2.2.13 the crippling delays caused by the extraordinarily high accident rate of approximately 1300 accidents per year. It addresses certain scenarios of traffic growth versus traffic manipulation by demand management, congestion pricing, additional bus service, reactivation of the West Shore Railroad among others. It fails to address in any realistic way the additional congestion to be anticipated by continuous reconstruction and maintenance, increased growth, continued and increasing accidents, and continued weather problems including rain, sleet, snow, fog and sun glare both morning and night. In the final analysis, it offers no solution to the problems of the I287 Corridor.

COMMUNITY IMPACT

I287 (The New York State Thruway) and I95 (The New England Thruway) were conceived and built with virtually no regard to the municipalities destroyed by their construction, most obviously Nyack and Tarrytown. Any attempts to widen the existing right of way, increase or decrease traffic, add rail transportation or replicate the existing Tappan Zee Bridge will be met by the most vigorous community opposition.

REPLACEMENT OF TZB BY A TUNNEL

The greatest deficiency in the report and greatest disservice to the affected communities is the failure to address the replacement initially of the Tappan Zee Bridge and ultimately of the complete I287 Corridor with a subsurface tunnel. In the current social and economic context using current technology, tunneling proves significantly more economical, safer, less intrusive to the municipalities affected, and less disruptive to continuing traffic. Modern tunneling equipment is reliable, efficient, safe and highly economical in its use of manpower. In addition to producing the needed transportation infrastructure, tunneling yields very valuable byproducts. The gravel produced by the excavation is readily marketed and in short supply. The real property currently under pavement has great value when returned to private use, which may include residential areas, corporate management and industrial parks and green ways and municipal parks. The final cost of an underground highway and rail transportation system will be significantly less than continued maintenance and enlargement of the present surface system. In modern Europe, tunnels are used in many contexts, including bypass of historic cities and scenic lakes and mountains. The desecration of a cultural resource by a highway is now quite unthinkable.

RAILROAD INCLUDED

The general structure of a three-lane tunnel easily defines a two-track railway in its lower half. The railway is another almost cost free byproduct of the tunnel construction process and is again weather free and non-intrusive to the communities it serves.

FAST COMPLETION

In addition to the above mentioned benefits of restoration of the affected communities, safety due to a weather free environment, minimal community intrusion during and after construction, minimal traffic disruption, considerable savings, and creation of a railway, there also will be a tremendous saving in completion time. Rather than subjecting the surrounding communities and the traveling public to a minimum of 20 years of continued chaos, a tunnel project can be completed on the Tappan Zee component in less than 5 years and on the entirety of I 287 Suffern to Rye in less than 10 more. The report fails to offer any definite time line in Section 4.4.4 but anticipates at least 5 years for development of the so called low impact alternatives, i.e., traffic management, West Shore Railroad restoration and initial TZB repairs and many, many years more for the non-solution of a duplicate bridge and additional rail service.

START TUNNEL STUDY NOW

Immediate rejection of the report and consideration of a tunnel system with all its benefits will enable a definite 5-year time line to start without further delays. The Tappan Zee Bridge and its approaches should be removed from the historic and scenic Hudson Valley. The traveling public should be accommodated safely and economically, without delay.

LONG TERM VISION

With modern tunneling technology in place, the New York area has a multitude of other opportunities for improvement including but not limited to:

The extension of I287 across the Long Island Sound to join I495 (Long Island Expressway) in Jericho. New Jersey to Long Island to alleviate the current ridiculous situation of traffic from New Jersey being emptied into the streets of Manhattan.

The entire Long Island Expressway The Cross Bronx-Bruckner I95 System. In each case there is no possibility of acquiring additional surface right of way for expanded surface superhighways and untold millions of man hours will be wasted every year in the continued traffic tie ups. As mentioned above, subsurface tunnel construction using tunnel boring machines automatically implies the creation of a mass transit rail system at the same time.

What is truly amazing is that the State of New York, nor the New York Thruway Authority has never taken a serious look into the option of a tunnel rather than a bridge.

August 28, 2010

A Frontier With a View on the Far West Side

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times

Tall apartment buildings have sprouted on the far West Side, presenting a particular attraction for young people. An evening view from the West Side Piers, looking east at 12th Avenue where it intersects 42nd Street, shows the Atelier, left, and Silver Towers in light blue.

STANDING on the corner of 10th Avenue and 33rd Street, opposite the high concrete barrier that surrounds the railyards, it is just possible to imagine what the far West Side of Midtown Manhattan looked like not long ago. There are parking lots and parking garages, a McDonald’s, and a boarded-up Irish pub, and not much else. Car traffic is heavy, and foot traffic is sparse.

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Michael Roth, who is 56 and grew up in Brooklyn, owned a garage a few blocks south in the late 1970s. “During those days,” he recalled recently, “all you had was prostitutes, pimps, more prostitutes, more pimps, drug dealing like you’ve never seen before. It was a horrible place to be.”

Mr. Roth spoke in the past tense because part of the view north from 33rd Street is jarringly different these days. Beyond billboards and tenements, a cluster of high-rise rental and condominium buildings has sprouted in recent years, and more are planned. An area that housed fewer than 5,000 people in the 2000 census now has nearly that many on 42nd Street between 11th and 12th Avenues alone. The new construction, long hoped for in city planning and development circles, has not yet spawned a proper name. But it has begun to feel like a neighborhood.

Mr. Roth, who now owns New York Helicopter Charter, is a happy resident of one of those high-rises, Silver Towers.

“I lie in my bed and I see the Hudson River,” he said. “Sunday morning I see the cruise ships coming in and out. I see the Statue of Liberty. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Mr. Roth pays $5,400 a month for a one-bedroom apartment on the 52nd floor of Silver Towers, a 1,359-unit rental complex developed by Silverstein Properties. The project, on 42nd Street between 11th and 12th Avenues, began accepting residents last year, and the company’s owner, Larry Silverstein, said it was now 80 percent rented.

Across 42nd Street it faces the Atelier, a 46-story, 478-unit condominium tower that opened in 2007, developed by the Moinian Group. Related Companies and Tishman Construction are completing a 60-story mixed-use tower on the southeast corner of 42nd Street and 10th Avenue that will have more than 800 units, both condos and rentals, as well as a branch of Yotel, the European “pod” hotel chain.

And the Gotham Organization has been working with city government to build 1,225 residential units in a mixed-use project between 44th and 45th Streets and 10th and 11th Avenues.

To the south, on 37th Street straddling 10th Avenue, TF Cornerstone has built three towers — two at No. 505, which opened this year, and one at No. 455, which opened in 2009 — with a total of more than 1,200 rental units. They have joined a handful of older rental buildings, including the 44-story Riverbank West, on 43rd Street, completed in 1987; the 34-story New Gotham, on 43rd Street, completed in 1998; and Mr. Silverstein’s 41-storyOne River Place, which opened in 2000 at 42nd Street and 12th Avenue.

Collectively, the towers form a neighborhood — 10th Avenue and west, from the railyards to the mid-40s — that is not exactly Hudson Yards, since some of the buildings predate the city’s large-scale redevelopment effort around the railyard, and others are outside its scope. It is not exactly Hell’s Kitchen, either, lying in a former manufacturing zone to the west of that district. Its residents tend to be young, in their 20s and 30s, with white-collar jobs nearby in Midtown.

“You see very few gray hairs,” said Enoch Hooper, the owner of Enoch’s Bike Shop, just south of the 37th Street towers on 10th Avenue. He said the area’s seedier side, as Mr. Roth described it, is long gone. But still, before the towers, “there was just nobody around,” Mr. Hooper added. “No reason for anybody to come over here.”

For his business, the area’s relatively poor public transit is a boon. “It’s good for me,” Mr. Hooper said with a smile. “They might buy a bike.”

Inaccessibility is the main downside to living in the area, said Aaron Kaufman, 26, a graduate student in real estate at New York University and an associate at Vicus Partners, a commercial real estate firm in Midtown. Mr. Kaufman pays $2,600 a month for a 500-square-foot alcove studio at Silver Towers, having received two months’ free rent when he arrived in October. Despite certain inconveniences, he says he dreams about closing a big deal soon, so that he can buy an apartment in the area before prices go up.

Prices at the other new buildings in the area are similar, starting around $2,100 for studios, $3,000 for one-bedroom apartments, and $4,000 for two-bedrooms. At the Atelier, one-bedroom condos sell for $650,000 to $1 million, and two-bedrooms are $1.2 million to $1.5 million.

In the neighborhood’s handful of other condo buildings — including 552 West 43rd Street and 529 West 42nd Street, a converted armory — one-bedroom units sell for around $700,000, with two- and three-bedrooms from $1.3 million to $1.7 million.

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Mr. Kaufman, who moved to Silver Towers from the financial district, described the neighborhood as a mixed bag: It took him a while to find places to eat and hang out, he said, but now his list includes Daisy May’s BBQ USA and H & H Bagels on 46th Street, and Ink48, a hotel at 48th and 11th with a rooftop bar.

The subway, at Eighth Avenue or Times Square, is a few long blocks from Silver Towers, but there are many lines from which to choose. And while M42 bus service can be spotty, several 42nd Street buildings, including Silver Towers, run morning shuttle buses across town. Ultimately, he said, his proximity to work, the view and the relatively affordable rent are worth the sacrifice in convenience.

“I think a lot of my young friends, when they come over, they go, ‘Oh, that’s far,’ ” Mr. Kaufman said. “Other people, it’s a big deal, because you don’t walk out and everything’s within a stone’s throw. But that doesn’t bother me, because I’m like, ‘I have a water view; you don’t.’ I can see the George Washington Bridge from my apartment.”

He plans to stay, he said, if he can negotiate a rental agreement similar to his current one.

The extension of the No. 7 subway line will improve accessibility somewhat. It is on schedule to open in December 2013, with a stop at 11th Avenue and 34th Street, said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A planned stop at 10th Avenue and 41st Street was eliminated for budgetary reasons, but the mayor’s office has been seeking money for a study to see if it can be built after all.

City efforts to spur development on the West Side have been extensive. In 2005 the City Council approved the Bloomberg administration’s Hudson Yards plan, rezoning more than 300 acres, including the railyards, between 30th and 33rd Streets, and a vast swath to the north. The plan permits larger-scale residential development in some areas if affordability targets are met, and includes a goal of transforming 10th Avenue into a busy commercial and residential corridor.

The Gotham Organization’s mixed-use development between 44th and 45th Streets, though not part of the Hudson Yards plan, is on city-owned land and was made possible by a rezoning with similar aims. Holly Leicht, a deputy commissioner at the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said the project would provide 600 permanent units of affordable rental housing, mostly middle-income.

Moreover the development, which Gotham hopes to begin in the second quarter of next year, will include neighborhood-oriented retail, and a replacement for the aging P.S. 51, which stands on part of the site. (There are no other public schools in the neighborhood.) Ms. Leicht said the tallest part of the project had been lowered to 31 stories in response to complaints from neighbors — but that they were eager for stores and affordable housing.

“With so little land left that’s publicly owned in the city,” she said, “to have a project that can have that many affordable units, especially permanent affordable units, is a big impact.”

Melissa Pianko, a vice president of Gotham, which would buy the property for around $35 million as part of the plan, said the influx of residents would engender more neighborhood services and amenities.

Not every development in the area has gone smoothly. A tower planned for the eastern end of the Moinian Group’s property on 42nd Street, next to the Atelier by 11th Avenue, has not materialized; the site has received numerous citations from city authorities for standing water. And nearby branches of a Crunch gym and Starbucks recently closed.

The coffee shop’s demise was “quite shocking and disheartening,” said Ali Jafri, a sales representative at Prudential Douglas Elliman who owns a unit in the Atelier.

Still, Mr. Jafri said he and his wife, who have newborn twins, were optimistic about the area. He cited both the neighboring developments and the building’s amenities, which include a roof deck with a panoramic view, a large athletic facility and a ground-floor nightclub.

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“We saw that it’s not much of a neighborhood, if you will, from a buyer’s perspective,” he said. “But we bought from an investor’s perspective. It has a lot of upside, as we say in real estate.”

Frederick Elghanayan, one of the owners of TF Cornerstone, said a 10,000-square-foot Duane Reade was under construction at 455 West 37th Street, and the company is pursuing restaurants and a grocery store. No. 455 is fully leased, Mr. Elghanayan said, and 505 West 37th is 80 percent full. The company, he added, is in negotiations for a third site in the area, with the aim of creating another residential building.

Mr. Silverstein said he, too, was looking for another property in the neighborhood. It was in 1984 that he bought the land where One River Place and Silver Towers now stand; he said he had spent years weathering bad economies, pursuing rezoning, and waiting to see if development would be viable.

Now, “the whole West Side has come into its own to a degree that’s really very gratifying,” he said. “People now see a neighborhood, a community.”

Joey Egger, 35, a resident of One River Place, moved there from brownstone Brooklyn, which she loved, because her roommate — both are Australian — wanted to experience Manhattan before her time in the United States ran out. Ms. Egger works in digital media for the organization that produces Sesame Street; she says she walks to the restaurants on Ninth Avenue, and to the parkland along the Hudson River. Then there’s her building’s pool and rooftop, which she describes as “fantastic.”

Jersey City Keeps Busy Re-Inventing Itself

Just across the Hudson River from Manhattan and easily accessible by the PATH train, Jersey City is increasingly a popular destination for those who want to be close to New York City without being immersed in its bustle. Once a heavily industrial area, the area has in the past several years seen a surge in new development and in conversions of former industrial buildings into housing, office, retail and entertainment space.

The short commute, the views and the relatively low prices draw some Manhattan workers. Others both live and work in the area, creating a community dedicated to seeing the city thrive.

Liberty State Park in Jersey City offers views of the lower Manhattan skyline.

Recently built high-rises abound. Some, like Grove Point, a rental building in the downtown area that opened in 2007, found themselves near capacity soon after opening. The Newport area along the waterfront, a mixed-use community with retail, office, entertainment and residential spaces, has several luxury towers, including a 31-story rental building, Aquablu. That building opened last summer and includes 355 apartments. Studios start at $1,800 a month, and three-bedrooms at $3,495. Nearby at the Trump Plaza Residences, a 55-story tower with a 24-hour doorman and full-time concierge, one-bedroom units start at more than $400,000.

For those not interested in modern buildings, there are options in former warehouses, factories and even hospitals. The Art Deco Beacon condominium complex, built in the former Jersey City Medical Building, features a fitness center, pool, screening room and children's playroom. An on-site bar and lounge called Prohibition is also in the works. Studios at the Beacon start at $235,000.

The residences at Dixon Mills, where studios start at more than $200,000, are in a former pencil factory and feature hardwood floors, oversized windows, and high ceilings. Some units also have exposed brick walls and terraces.

More plans for development are in the works. Just this week, the Jersey City Council approved a 244-acre plan to develop the Journal Square area in the city's central business district. Efforts to clean up chromium and other metals left by decades of industrial activity are under way in areas such as Bayfront, Harbor Place and Canal Crossings, in preparation to begin creating mixed-use developments, says Robert Antonicello, executive director of the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency.

Many of the plans for new developments are centered around public-transportation hubs, partly to encourage those who commute to New York City to make Jersey City home, he adds. There are also plans to develop the derelict Powerhouse, which once provided railroad electricity and later was used as a storage site for railroad equipment, into a cultural hub with space for performing arts.

Of course, the plans remain just plans until executed, so many of the developments have a long way to go. Some Jersey City residents still rely on New York night life for their entertainment and say PATH train service can be unreliable, particularly at night and on weekends.

Parks: Liberty State Park has a promenade for walking, jogging and biking, as well as playgrounds and access to fishing, crabbing, boating and kayaking. The park offers not only stunning views of the Manhattan skyline but also ferry service to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Other green spaces include the 270-acre Lincoln Park, which has recreation fields and wetlands. Smaller green spaces include Lafayette Park, Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park, among others.

Dining: The Grove Street area is the central location for dining, and popular restaurants include Marco & Pepe, which offers brunch, dinner and dessert, and the Merchant, a bar and restaurant housed in an old bank—a vault, now used for storage, is in the main dining room. The diverse ethnic community has contributed a variety of restaurants, including Taqueria Downtown, which offers fresh Mexican food for a low price. Zeppelin Hall Restaurant & Biergarten offers indoor and outdoor seating, and Bar Majestic is in a converted theater. For a sweet treat, try Made with Love Organic Bakery & Café.

Craig Donado of Jersey City at the Beechwood Café and Market on Grove Street.

Shopping: Kanibal Home is a clothing, accessories and home-décor store that also sells refurbished furniture and vintage dishware. For more accessories and clothing, also try Tia's Place, Another Man's Treasure Vintage Store and Aspasia's Boutique. Stockinette Knitting Café offers coffee and pastries along with knitting materials. Other finds include FJB Comics & Games. Newport Centre, a three-level mall in the Newport Hudson Waterfront Community has department stores like Macy's and Sears, as well as other retailers like American Eagle Outfitters, Brookstone, Fossil and Godiva Chocolatier.

Schools: There are 31 schools for students in kindergarten through 8th grade, as well as six high schools. Of the 1,258 high-school students who graduated in 2009, 776 went on to a two-year or four-year college or university, and they received nearly $8 million in scholarship money, according to the Jersey City Public Schools 2008-09 annual report. Private schools include the Our Lady of Victories School, the Our Lady of Mercy Academy and the Al Ghazaly School. Higher-education options include the New Jersey City University, which offers courses in areas like media arts, business, education and criminal justice, and St. Peter's College, a Jesuit college with undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.

August 26, 2010

Under-river power line clears hurdle

The positioning of the proposed Champlain-Hudson Power Express under the bed of the Hudson River, in yellow, places it near Hudson’s waters on the east and Catskill’s on the west. Courtesy State Public Service Commission

Plan brings line directly below Catskill, Hudson docks

Jim Planck

ALBANY — A plan to run a 1,000 megawatt high voltage direct-current power line called the Champlain-Hudson Power Express from Canada down to New York City, including burying it under the bed of the Hudson River from Coeymans down to the metropolitan area, has taken the next step forward.

The NYS Public Service Commission has accepted CHPE’s application for the project as complete, which now allows the actual review process to begin. The application was filed back in March, with clarifications and responses requested by the PSC in the interim.

The full CHPE application, including all attachments and responses, as well as filings or requests by third parties, such as Central Hudson Gas & Electric, Riverkeeper, and Scenic Hudson, to either participate in the forthcoming evidentiary hearings or otherwise stay abreast of the project’s progress, are all on-line at the NYS Public Service Commission website,www.dps.state.ny.us.

Among the documents on file is a series of maps which show the river’s submerged beds of aquatic vegetation, including the approximate positioning of the power line, ostensibly based on the result of a comprehensive marine route survey conducted earlier this year -- with the text of that survey also provided in a separate document.

The positioning of the cable shows it essentially hugs the west shore south of Coxsackie, then crosses over to the east of the Middle Ground Flats, again hugs a portion of the shore past the City of Hudson and South Bay, and then swings back to the west side again, where it again stays near shore from about two miles north of Catskill to Catskill Point, where it swings out more into mid-river for a long distance run south.

The Marine Survey Summary Report notes, “The majority of the cable route in this (Northern Catskills) section is located just outside the navigation channel, with periodic channel crossings.”

“The water depths in this area ranged from slightly less than 10 feet to approximately 50 feet,” it states.

One of the questions asked of CHPE representatives by the public at project informational meetings in Kingston earlier this year was the depth at which the cable would be buried, and whether boaters would catch their anchors on it.

The answer provided was that they would not, as the depth would be sufficient to prevent it, and while the findings stated in the Marine Survey appear to substantiate that, they are, however, unclear.

“For much of this (Northern Catskills) section,” it states, “sub-bottom penetration could not be obtained, or was very limited.”

“However,” it adds, “where penetration was obtained, it was generally deeper than, or approximately, five feet.”

“At least five feet of sediment was recovered at all core locations,” it notes.

To help boaters be aware of the cable’s presence, there will also be warning signs, and the Visual Assessment includes a conceptual sample of what they may look like.

As currently proposed, they will be 8 feet by 8 feet, strong yellow with black letters, and convey the message, “Warning -- Submerged High Voltage Cable -- Do Not Anchor or Dredge.”

Whether these signs will only be located at the cable’s river entry and exit points, or along the route proper at any potentially sensitive locations, is not stated.

The relative proximity of the cable to the boat launch area at Dutchmen’s Landing, as roughly depicted in the aquatic beds map, as well as the cable’s depth below river bottom at that point, do not seem to be yet determinable from the available information.

The Marine Survey also references the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, noting, “There are two places where the proposed route passes near fixed navigation towers located in the river, just outside the main channel.”

“One location is the lighthouse at the south end of Middle Ground Flats, between Hudson and Athens,” it states.

“Another is marker 169, just north of Coxsackie Creek on the west bank of the river,” it adds, “where there is less than five feet of water on the inshore side of these structures.”

HUDSON RIVER MILES

HUDSON RIVER MILES

The Hudson is measured north from Hudson River Mile 0 at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan. The George Washington Bridge is at HRM 12, the Tappan Zee 28, Bear Mountain 47, Beacon-Newburgh 62, Mid-Hudson 75, Kingston-Rhinecliff 95, Rip Van Winkle 114, and the Federal Dam at Troy, the head of tidewater, at 153. Entries from points east and west in the watershed reference the corresponding river mile on the mainstem.